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Anenih calls for entrenchment of women’s rights into various institutions
Anenih calls for entrenchment of women’s rights into various institutions
The Former Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Josephine Anenih has called on the education sector, security organisations, media, lawmakers, among others to begin to entrench the rights of women into the institutions thay represent.
Anenih was speaking at the official launch of Women’s Voice and Leadership-Nigeria Project in Abuja on Monday.
The programme which was organised by ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) in collaboration with the Global Affairs Canada was aimed at supporting the capacity and activities of local and national women’s organisations while achieving gender equality.
Anenih noted that the launch of the project would have ripple effect of the gains in projecting the voices of the marginalised in the society.
“There is so much that needs to be done to bridge the gender equality gaps in all spheres of life and work in our nation.
“The increased incidences of discrimination against women is alarming. As a former minister, it grieves me that the number of women representations in the high levels of leadership is decreasing instead of increasing as one would expect in the times we are in.
“This is the time when much more women should be in places of leadership, projecting the voices of those they represent and fighting for their causes.”
She, therefore, charged AAN to put its best in ensuring that the overall goal of the project was achieved.
Meanwhile, Mrs Ene Obi, Country Director, AAN said that women were disproportionately disadvantaged in all spheres of life despite Nigeria being committed to advancing gender equality with seemingly enabling policy landscape.
Obi noted that gender discrimination was still woven through legal and social norms in the country saying that inequality, poverty and violence is evidenced in the increased reporting of related incidences of discrimination against women and girls in the country.
” These issues have continued to trail us, and therefore, ActionAid Nigeria continues to work to achieving social justice, gender equality and poverty eradication.
” We connect the work we do at the community level with broader efforts and struggles for justice at every level to make the greatest contribution towards a just, equitable and sustainable world.
” This project is aimed at contributing to equality between women and men to strengthen the empowerment and fulfilment of the rights of women and girls.”
Ene stressed on the need for women to ensure social mobilisation of their constituency to stand up to the development challenges facing the nation.
She, however, charged women leaders to re-commit themselves to the emancipation and empowerment of Nigerian women and girls.
Also, Mrs Sonia Warner, UK Department for International Development said it would take Nigeria 170 years to close the gender gaps while calling for drastic actions to empower women in the society.
Warner noted that the UK government had been supporting women and would continue to support them to bridge the gaps.
Similarly, Mrs Amina Salihu from the MacArthur Foundation said it was worrisome that Nigeria still have over 10 million children out of school.
She said it was time the country begin to define what it meant to win while also paying attention on how we raise our children.
Mrs Suwaiba Yakubu-Jibrin, Head of Programme AAN, who spoke on the overview of the project, said the Global Affairs Canada would be funding the project with N2.6 billion which would be for a period of five years and administered by AAN.
She added that the project which also targeted 100 local women rights organisations across the six geopolitical zones in the country.
She said these include: 72 from community based organisations, 10 from local women rights network and 18 from local women residence officers at state levels.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that six states such as Bauchi, Enugu, Kebbi, Cross River, Lagos and Kwara state are the pilot states of the project.
Business
Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Ismaila Ahmad Abdullahi Ph.D
The public hearings conducted recently by the two Chambers of the National Assembly have elicited positive responses from a broad spectrum of Nigerians, cutting across regional interest groups, government agencies, civil society groups, concerned individuals, the academia, and Labour Unions, among diverse others. Contrary to a few dissensions hitherto expressed in the media, almost all the stakeholders who spoke during the week-long sessions were unanimous in their declaration that the hallowed Chambers should pass the tax reform bills after a clean-up of the grey areas.
The public hearings were auspicious for all Nigerians desirous of economic growth and fiscal responsibility. They were also a watershed moment for the Federal Inland Revenue Service, which had been upbeat about the tax reforms. Indeed, the public hearings had rekindled hope in the tenets of democracy that guarantee freedom of expression and equitable space for cross-fertilisation of ideas. Without gainsaying the fact, the tax reform bills have been unarguably about the most thought-provoking issues in Nigeria today, drawing variegated perspectives and commentaries from even unlikely quarters such as the faith-based leaders, student bodies, and trade unions, which speaks much about the importance of the bills.
In the build-up to the public hearings, not many people believed that the bills would make it to the second reading, much less the public hearings. Even the Northern stakeholders who seemed unlikely to support the passage of the bills have softened their stance and have given valuable suggestions that would enrich the substance of the bills. The Arewa Consultative Forum came to the public hearings well-prepared with a printed booklet that addressed their concerns. It concluded with an advisory that the bills should be “Well planned, properly communicated, strategically implemented and ample dialogue and political consensus allowed for the reforms to be accepted.”
The concerns of ACF ranged from the composition of the proposed Nigeria Revenue Service Board as contained in Part 111, Section 7 of the bill, the unlimited Presidential power to exempt/wave tax payment as proposed in Section 75(1) of the bill, the family income or inheritance tax as contained in Part 1, Section 4(3) of the bill, to the issues around development levy and VAT. On the development levy, the ACF stated that unless the Federal Government is considering budgetary funding for TETFUND, NASENI and NITDA, it does not see the “wisdom behind the plan to replace (them) with NELFUND”.
The position of the North was equally reinforced by the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, Northern Elders Forum, Kano State Government, Professor Auwalu Yadudu, and the FCT Imams. Like the ACF, these stakeholders lent their respective voices to the Section on the Inheritance Tax in Part 1 of the bill and the use of the term ‘ecclesiastical’, which, in their views, undermines certain religious rights and beliefs. The Kano State Government, represented by Mahmud Sagagi, affirmed that “we support tax modernisation” but cautioned that “we must ensure that this process does not come at the expense of states’ constitutional rights and economic stability”. Professor Auwalu Yadudu, a constitutional law professor, drew attention to the use of the ‘supremacy clause’ and cautioned that the repeated use of “notwithstanding” in the bills would undermine the supremacy of the Nigerian constitution if passed as such.
Other stakeholders that made contributions at the sessions included the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Nigeria Customs Service, and a host of others. While most of their concerns bordered on technical issues requiring fine-tuning, they were unanimous in their support for the bills. They aligned with the position of the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji, Ph.D. and the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, which is that the extant tax laws and fiscal regulations are obsolete necessitating reforms aimed at creating a fair and equitable tax and fiscal space to grow Nigeria’s economy.
In one of the sessions, Dr Zaach Adedeji expounded on the criss-cross of trade activities in the Free Trade Zone whereby companies misuse tax waivers as exporters to sell their goods or services in the Customs Area at an amount usually less than the price the operators in the Customs Area who pay VAT and other taxes sell theirs thereby disrupting business transactions. This way, the operators in the Free Trade Zone shortchange the government in paying their due taxes by circumventing extant regulations, which are inimical to the economy’s growth.
Overall, the presentations were forthright, foresighted, and helpful in elucidating the issues contained in the bills. According to the statistics read out at the end of the hearings at the Senate, 75 stakeholders were invited, 65 made submissions, and 61 made presentations. At the House of Representatives 53 stakeholders made presentations. By all means, this is a fair representation. Given the presentations, it is evident that the National Assembly has gathered enough materials to guide its deliberations on the bills. As we look forward to the passage of the bills, we commend the leadership of the National Assembly for their unwavering commitment to making the bills see the light of the day.
Abdullahi is the Director of the Communications and Liaison Department, FIRS.
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